A political odd couple has found common ground in the fight to strengthen congressional ethics.
On Tuesday, Reps. Matt Gaetz and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez unveiled legislation to inject real transparency into the halls of Congress and prohibit members of Congress from trading stocks.
Gaetz spoke to Fox News’ Jesse Waters Tuesday evening about the Bipartisan Restoring Faith in Government Act. He tweeted that he “will work with anyone and everyone to ensure Congress is not so compromised.”
Fox Business has more on the strange bedfellows moving the bipartisan proposal forward:
Sponsored by GOP Reps. Gaetz and Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., and Democratic Reps. Ocasio-Cortez and Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., the Bipartisan Restoring Faith in Government Act aims to block members of Congress, as well as their spouses and dependents, from trading individual stocks.
“The ability to individually trade stock erodes the public’s trust in government,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement. “When Members have access to classified information, we should not be trading in the stock market on it. It’s really that simple.”
Gaetz echoed Ocasio-Cortez, stating concerns over insider trading “hang over the legislative process.”
“Members of Congress are spending their time trading futures instead of securing the future of our fellow Americans,” Gaetz said in a statement. “Congress will never regain the trust of the American people. Our responsibility in Congress is to serve the people, not hedge bets on the stock market.”
“We cannot allow the Swamp to prioritize investing in stocks over investing in our country,” he added.
The rare display of solidarity comes after the disclosure of financial reports showing Congresswoman Lois Frankel, D-Fla., sold her First Republic Bank stock just before it collapsed and brought JP Morgan stock before JP Morgan announced its acquisition.
Members of both parties have a history of dumping stocks using knowledge given to them that’s unattainable anywhere else.
Rep. Dan Goldman, D-Colo., sold his shares in First Republic on March 14, the day before an industry bailout sent its stock plummeting. The family of California Democrat Ro Khanna did the very same thing.
Several United States senators, including Richard Burr, R-N.C., Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., faced allegations of violating the STOCK Act in 2020. The senators traded numerous stocks after attending a Jan. 24, 2020, closed-door hearing between the Senate Health and Foreign Affairs committees.
The senators-only meeting briefed them on the imminent pandemic from a rapidly spreading COVID-19 outbreak in Hubei Province, China. Georgia Republican David Perdue made a series of 112 transactions, including purchasing $185,000 in shares of DuPont, a leading manufacturer of personal protective equipment.
Feinstein sold her shares in Allogene Therapeutics, valued between $1.5 and $6 million. The California Democrat claimed the investment decisions were handled by her husband and complied with Senate rules.
Around the same time, Republican Richard Burr, then-chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, penned an op-ed extolling the United States’ health care infrastructure, stating that “we were in a better position than any other country” to handle the threat.
Later, when asked to comment on the insider trading allegations, a Burr spokesperson responded via text with “lol.”
At the time, Fox News host Tucker Carlson called for Burr to resign and be prosecuted. The Justice Department launched investigations into Burr, Feinstein, Loeffler and Oklahoma’s Jim Inhofe before closing all of them without pressing charges.
Reflecting on the support Tuesday’s bill is receiving from across the ideological spectrum, moderate Republican Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., added, “The fact that Members of the Progressive Caucus, the Freedom Caucus, and the Bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, reflecting the entirety of the political spectrum, can find common ground on key issues like this should send a powerful message to America.”
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